Help with your business

An ICAEW Chartered Accountant can help you start up a business and run it with confidence. The support of a finance professional with in-depth knowledge, technical expertise and commercial insight can ensure that you make the best decisions from the outset.

Find a chartered accountant participating in the ICAEW Business Advice Service - receive an initial consultation at no charge.

Trained to analyse objectively and act with integrity, chartered accountants working independently offer help and advice to businesses of every size. Many are – or have been – employed within organisations across a wide range of industry sectors. This gives them the breadth and depth of experience to offer an invaluable sense of perspective.

The strategic abilities of an independent chartered accountant can help you to examine your business ideas and evaluate profit potential, manage growth successfully and minimise business tax.

Always remember to check for the title 'chartered accountant' when looking for help with your business. Legally, anyone can call themselves an ‘accountant’ – they don’t need any qualifications, training or experience. Would you trust just anyone with your business?

Planning for business

Running your own business can be an immensely rewarding experience. Every year, approximately 400,000 new businesses start up in the UK.

Decisions taken in the early years can be the most difficult as well as the most important, particularly for first-time entrepreneurs and those with no previous business knowledge or experience.

When you have an idea for a new product or service, the impulse is to start sharing it with the world as soon as possible. However, the fact is that in the UK one in three new businesses ceases to trade within three years and, after ten years, only one in five is still in business.

Preparation is the key. This particularly applies to researching the market and testing your product or service. Getting the pricing right is a significant factor. Research shows that being under-capitalised is the most common cause of business failure. So it pays to get a business plan together with robust cashflow and profit forecasts.

Read more about planning for business

Starting your business

You’ve taken the plunge and decided to start trading. The first few months spent getting the business up and running are likely to be very hectic. So before getting the business off the ground, it pays to get all the necessary administrative chores out the way.

Who do you need to notify about the new business? What legal status best suits your situation – sole trader or limited company? You need to decide early because if you need stationery it affects letterheads, invoices, etc. What about H M Revenue & Customs? Do you need to be registered for VAT? What insurances are required?

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Managing your business

Congratulations. You have guided the business through the initial phase. You have built a solid customer base; turnover is increasing; suppliers are on-stream.

But there doesn’t seem to be much money in the bank and you are not able to get much money out of the business. Where is the money going? Are you doing as well as you expected?

You need more timely and detailed information on your trading performance. Your records – that pile of invoices in the drawer and the bank paying-in book – are not much help. What information do you need? Would a computer help you to keep track of your business performance, or would that just lead to more time spent performing non-productive tasks?

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Growing your business

 The business is established and you are ready to expand. Customer demand is increasing. The UK market is covered, so what about expanding overseas? This could take your business to the next level.

But does expansion present too much risk? Do you have the resources – both human and financial – to meet the additional demand? Is the management team equipped to scale up operations? Can your information and communications technology offer the necessary support to an enlarged business? Should you bring in outside investors, or should you think about exiting the business through a trade sale?

Read more about growing your business